Sacramento Bee Cartoonist Rex Babin Dies of Cancer

From Daryl Cagle's Cartoon Blog:

I’m very sad to report that my friend Rex Babin, the brilliant cartoonist for the Sacramento Bee and a longtime contributor to Cagle.com, passed away this morning after a two year long fight with stomach cancer. A little over a year ago, Rex took a medical leave from his position as the paper’s staff cartoonist, and has been drawing off and on since.

Rex was a friend, and a mainstay of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, serving as president in 2010. He was the winner of the National Press Foundation’s 2001 Berryman Award and was a finalist for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize. His cartoons were nationally syndicated by King Features.

My thoughts go out to his family, especially his wife Kathleen and their son Sebastian. What a sad day and a terrible loss for the profession.

Here is his last cartoon, which appeared in the Bee on March 4:

100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design

A review by Buzz Poole from Imprint.

Sh*t Bureaucrats Say

2012 Doug Wright Awards Finalists

Thomas Mulcair (and Canadian politics) explained

From Filibuster.

JJ McCullough

The Story Behind my National Newspaper Award

While attending the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists' convention in Memphis, Tennessee in 1991, Martyn Turner, of the Irish Times, Roar Hagen, of Verdens Gang in Norway, Signe Wilkinson, of the Philadelphia Daily News and myself decided to skip the business meeting and visit some famous Civil War battlefields down Highway 61.

Nazi Plundered Poster Collection Finally Returned

From The Daily Heller:

Début Cartoons at the New Yorker

Bob Mankoff blogs about the début in the New Yorker of some of their famous cartoonists: Mick Stevens, Jack Ziegler, and Michael Maslin.

Arnold Roth Exhibition

From Mike Lynch Cartoons.

Princeton, NJ – On Saturday, March 24, 2012 from 4 – 6 PM, the Arts Council of Princeton will present a free illustrated lecture and opening reception for its special exhibition “Arnold Roth: A Selection of Work from Area Collections.” 

Russia: 2012 Cartunion International Cartoon Contest

1-Sergey Elkin (Russia)

Ali Ferzat Exhibition in London

Venue: Mica Gallery, Studio 2, 259A Pavilion Road, Sloane Square, SW1X 0BP
Dates: 20th March to 29th March 2012
Times: Monday to Friday: 10am – 6pm Saturdays: 11am – 6pm (strictly by appointment only)

Signe Wilkinson will stay on at Philadelphia Daily News

From Comic Riffs at The Washington Post.
By Michael Cavna

(SIGNE WILKINSON / Washington Post News Media Services)

Doonesbury and State-Mandated Ultrasounds

Doonesbury, March 12, 2012

Doonesbury 1985 Spiked Abortion Strips

From The Daily Cartoonist.

This week’s much censored Doonesbury isn’t the first time the strip’s creator Garry Trudeau has delved into the heated debate on abortion. Back in 1985, he did a week series on the topic but it never got to the newspapers because his syndicate felt it would be “deeply harmful to the feature.”

Garry Trudeau has now posted that series on his website.

Rina Piccolo: How To Get Your Cartoons Into The New Yorker

An interview with Rina Piccolo

Tina's Groove, September 27, 2004 

Nate Beeler joins the Columbus Dispatch

Nate Beeler's Cartoon Gallery at the Washington Examiner.

Reprint on the iPolitics website (8)

From iPolitics.

Jean Giraud 1938-2012

© Eric Dessons / JDD / SIPA

It's with great sadness that we learn the passing of Jean Giraud, better known to SF fans as Moebius.

2011 NNA Finalists

The Editorial Cartooning finalists for this year's awards are Marc Beaudet, Brian Gable and
Bruce Mackinnon.

An Interview with Richard Thompson

Michael Cavna in Comic Riffs:

Cartoonist Tony Auth Leaving Philadelphia Inquirer

The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

Soviet Era Dark Humor Makes a Comeback

From PRI's The World.

'Goodbye Putin!' – reference to the German film “Goodbye Lenin!”, uses a well recognized poster for that film as a visual point of reference.

Putin's tears...

... as seen by Russian cartoonist Elkin.

Reprint on the iPolitics website (7)

The cartoons can be seen here.